OutputPath is set to be bin\x86\release but shown as obj\x86\release when msbuilding?

Question

in my csproj the OutputPath is set as the following:

<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x86' ">
<DefineTrace>true</DefineTrace>
<OutputPath>bin\x86\Release\</OutputPath>
....
</PropertyGroup>

in my nant script, I have this:

<msbuild project="${demo.solution}">
 <property name="Configuration" value="release"/>
        <property name="OutputPath" value="${output.dir}"/>
        <property name="Platform" value="x86"/>
</msbuild>

why is the log showing that the DemoProject.dll is copied from obj\x86\release?

....

[msbuild] Project "Demo.sln" (1) is building "DemoProjec1.vbproj" (3) on node 0 (default targets).

[msbuild] Copying file from "obj\x86\Release\DemoProjec1.dll" to ${output.dir}\DemoProjec1.dll".

[msbuild] DemoProjec1 -> ${output.dir}\DemoProjec1.dll

[msbuild] Done Building Project "DemoProjec1.vbproj" (default targets).

....

Somehow the DemoProject.dll from obj is different in size compared to DemoProject.dll from bin

Answer 1

obj\x86\release is the IntermediateOutputPath for release configuration.

Your project is compiled in the intermediate directory and then the result file is copied in your output directory. In you Nant file you override the OutputPath to ${output.dir} so your file is copied from obj\x86\release to ${output.dir}.